A mighty hand reached out and shoved Rip, sweeping him through space like
a dust mote. He clutched his propulsion tube with both hands and fought to
hold it steady.
He swiveled his head quickly, searching for Santos, and saw the Filipino a
dozen rods away, still holding fast to his tube.
From the far horizon of the asteroid the incandescent fire of the nuclear
blast stretched into space, turning from silver to orange to red as it
cooled.
Rip knew they had escaped the heat and blast of the explosion, but there
was a question of how much of the prompt radiation they had absorbed.
During the first few seconds, a nuclear blast vomited gamma radiation and
neutrons in all directions. He and Santos certainly had gotten plenty. But
how much? Putting their dosimeters into a measuring meter aboard a cruiser
would tell them. His low-level colorimeter had long since reached maximum
red, and his high-level dosimeter could be read only on a measuring
device.
Meanwhile, he had other worries. Radiation had no immediate effect. At
worst, it would be a few hours before he felt any symptoms.
As he sized up his position and that of the asteroid, he let out a yell of
triumph. His gamble would succeed! He had estimated that going into the
direct gravity pull of the sun at the proper moment, and lighting off
their last tubes, would put them into a landing position. The asteroid was
swerving rapidly, moving into a new orbit that would intersect the course
he and Santos were on. He had planned on the asteroid’s change of orbit.
In a minute at most they would be back on the rock.
His propulsion tube flared out and he released it. It would travel along
with him, but his hands would be free. He watched closely as the asteroid
drew nearer and estimated they would land with plenty of room to spare.
Then he saw something else. The blast had started the asteroid turning!
He reacted instantly. Turning up his communicator he yelled, "Koa! The
rock is spinning! Cut the prisoners loose, grab the equipment, and run for
it! You’ll have to keep running to stay in the shadow. If sunlight hits
those fuel tanks or the tubes of rocket fuel, they’ll explode!"